German utility model DE 296 12 437 U1 discloses a cooling element for an electronic component, consisting of a metal element and of a passage opening to receive the electronic component. Through the insertion of a leaf spring, the electronic component is brought into thermal contact with a wall of the metal element. The drawback here is that, in an additional assembly step, the spring has to be subsequently inserted into the opening that receives the electronic component.
German patent application DE 197 29 851 A1 discloses a cooling element consisting of a metal element in which the thermal contact with the electronic component is achieved by means of a leaf spring. This leaf spring, however, functions like a clamping spring and it pulls the electronic component towards the outer wall of the metal element. The assembly of such a cooling element is impractical when conventional electronics housings are used since the electronic component to be cooled has to project out of the electronics housing in order to be brought into thermal contact with the cooling element.